Yes they are still dormant. The soil in the pots is no longer frozen, but we still drop to freezing or below at night. Do you think they will be ok outside with those temps?

they are fully cold tolerant down past z4 ... you are z6 ...

they really didnt need to be in the garage.. but for the pots ...had they been in mother earth ... they would have done just fine ...

cold in april simply is not an issue ... unless they leaf out ..

ken

If you want, you could bring them out during the day and put them back in the garage at night until the overnight temps are no longer going below freezing. This is what I do with other types of plants that I overwinter in the garage. To save your back, put them on wheels and roll them out and roll them back in. :-)

I grow in pots in Texas, so you and I have a very different environments. I leave my pots out over the winter without issues, as we rarely have long freezes. It freezes overnight regularly, but usually thaws during the day, so that the pots don't usually hold water.

However, I've found that small hosta in large pots (or those that have mulch or rocks on them) that stay wet for extended periods of time when they are first coming up will rot (especially if they were expensive). I'd watch for that once you put them out.

That's my experience and may not apply to you and your environment.

bkay

Thanks for all your advice. I just went out to the garage to bring the pots out onto the back deck and noticed that pips are already poking out of both. So both survived the winter. Very happy! I just have to remember to bring them back in at night if it gets below freezing.

I used these two cheap hostas that I got at the end of season to see if they would come back in a pot. Now that I know they will survive the winter in pots, I can go buy one of these giants that I saw at a hosta farm, to put in the tree-root-ridden part of my back garden. Can't wait until that hosta farm opens. I was the most amazing hosta farm I've ever been too. Everything they had for sale was also in the ground so you could see what they looked like - literally hundreds of different types - all nicely decorating their huge property. - front, back and sides. I was in my glory.

Are some types of hostas harder to grow in pots than others?

I regularly bring 8-10 hostas/other perennials into the garage over winter. In my case it is not the cold that is my concern. It is critters and extremely wet spring. These are plants that were struggling and I didn't want them to rot or get completely eaten. I call it the hospital ward. Glad they survived for you.

Another option to bringing in and out in spring is cover with an old sheet or buy row cover material. Row cover is rated to 28F and a little lower if you double it over.

How wonderful that you found a great source.

Patti, that is exactly what I did the first time. Bought an inexpensive walmart hosta to see if I could overwinter in a pot. For me, it was not successful that first attempt. Glad I experimented with one I didn't mind losing.

After that, I tried a different method year before last with one hosta and had good success. So last Fall, I went ahead and attempted five, including one seedling I got from sunnywood and two minis. I was just outside and I am excited to report that I had 100% success! I moved the hostas into the raised garden bed where I grow my tomatoes. I planted them there, put some leaves on top, and covered each one with a wire basket to keep the squirrels from digging.

Empress Wu seedling on the left and a division of a NOID from my yard that I used in a pot last year. I ran out of space in my ground last season and had no place to put Empress Wu. I'm glad she survived because now I do have a space for her.

So excited to see that Venusta and Bill's Dress Blue survived this way. Cute minis that will go in pots for the Summer where they can be adored! It looks like I have one that I failed to label. *kicking myself